Sandra Lee of the Food Network coined the term "semi-homemade" when she wrote her best-selling cookbook, "Semi-Homemade Cooking." Semi-homemade means to pull together about 30 percent fresh ingredients and 70 percent store-bought ingredients, assembling them at home to produce something that tastes almost as good as food made from scratch. Soups are the perfect semi-homemade food. Made from fresh, frozen and bottled ingredients, they are light and satisfying.
Step 1
Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet. Saute the chopped onions until they begin to brown.
Step 2
Add the broth. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any bits of onion that may be sticking. Add any dry herbs you wish to use.
Step 3
Add the vegetables, chopped into bite-sized pieces. Add the heavy vegetables like carrots and potatoes first. Add the less heavy vegetables like corn, peppers or peas five or 10 minutes later. Wait until just before serving to add light greens like spinach, arugula or chard.
Step 4
Add the carbohydrate. Be aware that very fine noodles take almost no time to cook and you should add them last, with the greens and herbs. Potatoes take longer to cook; add them with the heavy vegetables. Add instant rice and noodles five to 10 minutes before serving.
Step 5
Chop the pre-cooked meat into bite-sized pieces and add it to the pot.
Step 6
Add greens, fresh herbs and very fine noodles like fideo cortado. Add any seasonings or sauces like mirin, tamari, ketchup or barbecue sauce. Cook until the greens wilt and the seasonings are incorporated.
Tips and Warnings
- Pick a theme for your soup. Machaca, pinto beans, beef broth and chilis create a Mexican soup. Chicken, noodles, and chicken broth create a "comfort food" style chicken soup. Lentils, split peas, and herbes de provence create a French-style soup. Tofu, soba and tamari will give you something more Japanese. If you use canned or bottled broth, frozen vegetables, pre-cooked meat and a bottled sauce for flavoring, you can put a semi-homemade soup together with less than five minutes of labor time.
- This soup is only as light as the ingredients you put into it. Choose low-fat broth, lean meat and lots of vegetables for a low-fat, low-calorie soup.
Things You'll Need
- Vegetable oil
- Large pot
- Onion, chopped
- Cooking spoon
- Fresh and frozen vegetables
- Knife
- Broth -- beef, chicken, vegetable, etc.
- Pre-cooked protein -- chicken, beef, baked tofu, legumes, etc.
- A carbohydrate -- rice, noodles, potatoes
- Seasoning -- herbs, tamari, peppers, garlic or a store-bought sauce
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